European Cups: Crunch time!

The league stages of the Champions League and the Europa League are coming to an end. The 8th and last matchday is right around the corner and suspense is about to reach its climax for many teams. There’s only one step between direct qualification and elimination.

Champions League

At the top of the leaderboard, Liverpool, Barcelona, Arsenal and Inter are already directly qualified for the round of 16 and this last match will serve as a bonus. Right behind them, from 5th to 18th place, everyone will be fighting over the last spots of the top 8 since a maximum of 3 points stand between all these teams. Among them, some favorites like Atlético, AC Milan, Leverkusen, Real Madrid, Dortmund, Bayern and some great surprises like Atalanta, Feyenoord, as well as French clubs (except PSG).

At the bottom of the leaderboard, far less surprises, except for Manchester City, 25th, first eliminated and two points behind the first qualified for the preliminary knockout round. For Pep’s men, there’s no room for error, winning against... Club Brugge is mandatory to avoid public humiliation. On Brugge’s side, on the other hand, losing wouldn’t mean direct elimination, but they would depend on others’ results. If the Blauw-Zwart leave Manchester with even one point, they’ll be fighting in the preliminary knockout round. Beware of PSG, coming to Stuttgart. Both teams have totted up 10 points so woe to the vanquished who could have their European career stop right away.

Here are a few matches worth following:

·      Inter vs. Monaco

·      Man. City vs. Club Brugge

·      Brest vs. Real Madrid

·      Stuttgart vs. PSG

·      Lille vs. Feyenoord

Europa League

There, the focus is on Anderlecht and Union Saint-Gilloise in two polar-opposite situations. First, the Mauves are recovering from a huge disappointment in Plzen, beaten by 2-0 without being able to show off their moves. However, the Brussels team is still part of the top 8 and winning against Hoffenheim would propel them to the competition’s round of 16. On the other end of the scale, Anderlecht will depend on others’ results to determine whether or not they’ll have to stop by the preliminary knockout round.

For Union, their 15th place and 11 points won’t be enough to place them in the top 8, but still secure their spot for the preliminary knockout round. Them going to Nicolas Raskin’s Rangers will then only serve as a mere rehearsal.

At Circus, discover many BetXtra and the best odds for every European match this week.